The point of the Pendleton Act was to set up a civil service system in which people would get jobs with the federal government because they were able to do the job well, not because of their political connections. Therefore, choices B and C are completely wrong. Those were the sorts of things the Pendleton Act was supposed to prevent.

Option D is plausible, but not correct. Not all jobs would require a college degree. The Pendleton Act did, however, set up a system of examinations to determine which candidates were qualified for jobs with the federal government.